What's The Real Story Behind The Conjuring 2?

The thing that sets The Conjuring movies apart from other horror franchises is that they're based on true stories involving real-life ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga).

In the second film, it's 1977 and the Warrens travel to England to look into The Enfield Case, as single mother Peggy Hodgson (Frances O'Connor) is told by her daughter Janet (Madison Wolfe) that her bed is wobbling, there are loud noises and furniture is moving.

"It started in a back bedroom," recalls the real Janet. "The chest of drawers moved, and you could hear shuffling. We told Mum what was going on, and she came to see it for herself. She saw the chest of drawers moving. When she tried to push it back, she couldn't."

Peggy called the police, and a policewoman witnessed the furniture moving around. In her statement, she reports that she saw an armchair levitate above the floor and move some four feet across the room.

The film includes this scene, as well as others featuring loud knocking noises coming from within the walls. These were verified by both the family members and some visiting neighbours. On the other hand, a scene in the movie in which a number of crosses on the wall suddenly flip upside-down was invented by the filmmakers.

More than 30 witnesses reported seeing strange incidents in the Hodgson's home. In addition to sounds and moving furniture, they claimed to have observed objects flying around, cold breezes, physical assaults, sudden pools of water on the floor, unexplained graffiti and matches spontaneously igniting.

The film also depicts a scene in which Janet levitates in her room, something she claims really happened. "The levitation was scary," she says, "because you didn't know where you were going to land." While two witnesses claimed to have seen this through a window, experts are dubious, especially after a newspaper photographer re-created the scene as Janet jumped on her bed.

Intriguingly, the movie's biggest fiction seems to be the involvement of the Warrens. While Ed and Lorraine did visit the Enfield home, it was just a brief stop rather than the extended involvement depicted on-screen.

But director James Wan says that was enough to bring the true story into the larger world of The Conjuring. "I love these characters," he says. "Part of the reason why I decided to come back to The Conjuring 2 was to expand on the role of these two people, the cinematic version of Ed and Lorraine."